What is a restaurant you eat at in MB that may be off the "beaten path", "out of the way" or just plain "unknown" that is really good? We are always looking for non touristy spots while we are down. Let's try and leave chains out of this post and concentrate on those hidden gems that maybe a lot of people don't know about or frequent.

I would have to say mine would be Hamburger Heaven in Cherry Grove. Small locals joint that serves up homemade pimento cheese covered burgers, hand cut fries, and a tropical beach filled atmosphere. What's yours?

On 707 in MB you will find 2 such places, one is Driftwoods down by St James High and the other is The Gator Island Bar, 2 miles from the backgate, great lunch specials for $6 and dinner specials are sporatic right now, you can call 1st.

On the other end of the Strand, up north on Why 9 and 2 miles north of Hwy 31, is Big E's which is just good down home southern cooking on the cheap.

In Murrells Inlet area, the Inlet Crab House makes one heck of a she crab soup and is less money than Drunkin Jacks which is also good, and you have Hanna Banana's Cabana on the Waterway at Wacca Wacche Marina, Ken makes a great blender drink and his cooks make some tasty tidbits.

And for just good dang seafood let's not forget Bimini's on Lake Arrowhead Rd in the restaurant row area. Even though it is not hidden, most tourists just drive by as there is nothing inviting about it.

Guess we should also mention that Southside Grill is closed and The Gator is now Niki's yet 2 very good cooks, Tina and James are still there, working for the new owners Tom and Niki, who were GM and Bar Mgr. of the Gator before Kipper sold out.

Gary, I think you hit the nail on the head. I hear it again and again. "We have to cut back somewhere, so we're not eating out as much." I even hear it from the locals.

Don't usually cook in our condo (not yet anyway) on vacation, but we have cut back on some of the "big" meals while on vacation. We usually pick a place like Prossers instead of Crabby Mikes or a place like the the Bar-b-cue House instead of an expensive option like Angelo's now. It's very expensive to feed four kids especially since a couple of them have graduated from kids meals to adult meals. We do save at home by not eating out much and assume MB locals are no different.

MB is the only place we really eat whatever we want. We save all year especially for MB, and look forward to eating out to a couple of the more expensive places while we are there. We are not into breakfast, which is good. Usually a small bowl of cereal is all we eat. We tried something new last couple times there. We fix coffee in the room, skip breakfast, and go out for lunch soon as the restaurants open. It works great for us.

_________________A vacation is having nothing to do, and all day to do it in. Even Jesus had a fish story!